I want to rebuild Revell’s 1/96 USS Constitution but there appear to be two kits on the market now. Revell ID 85-0398 is available most places and is apparently the one that has been around for many years. However on the Revell of Germany website it lists a kit with the ID 80-5602, still the same scale but quite a bit more expensive than the 0398. I found two online shops that show it in their online catalog but its out of stock. Based on the kit description on the Revell of Germany website the 5602 kit is an updated version of the older one with more detail but it does not explicitly say that. Does anyone know what the difference between these two kits is? Or are they in fact the same kits with different prices?
Interesting. I just checked out both kits, and the 5602 has 74 more parts than the 0398. Not sure what those parts could be since the instruction manual is not available for down load to compare w/ the 0389. I am currently building the 0389 [ you can check out my build log here on FSM if it helps]
In any case… the 0389 builds up into a very fine model and you can’t really go wrong getting this kit number and saving what looks like a significant amount. I picked mine up on Amazon for $58.00.
I’ve built the original kit actually several times - I want to replace one I have now that is just about beyond repair and thought there might be something better,
Sorry; loused up this post by accident. Moderators - could it be removed?
We’ve discussed this point a couple of times before. There’s only one 1/96 Revell Constitution kit. It dates from the mid-sixties, and has been reissued more times than I care to count - on both sides of the Atlantic. But the boxes contain identical kits.
How the two branches of Revell came up with those different parts counts I have no idea. Maybe they counted things like the “sails” and “ratlines” differently. Or maybe the spools of thread.
The bottom line is that, especially considering its age, it’s a fine kit. This forum contains several threads by modelers who’ve produced outstanding models from it. Good luck!